Bay Area Filmmakers Showing Their Rough Cuts

By Ron Merk

Rough Cuts is wonderful opportunity for film enthusiasts and filmmakers to see films that are still in the post-production process. This provides a unique opportunity to observe the filmmaking process and to also provide feedback and assistance to the filmmaker whose films are being screened in a rough cut.

These post-screening discussions are designed to give the filmmaker a better, more objective sense of what is working and not working with his/her film, with particular attention paid to improving the film’s structure and narrative clarity.

Rough Cuts is produced by a collective of Bay Area filmmakers that includes:
Chris Holbrook – Director
Chris is the producer of “After Happily Ever After,” a documentary about marriage directed by Kate Schermerhorn. He has previously worked for ITVS, the Los Angeles Film Festival, AFI FEST, and Next Wave Films. A director and editor of numerous short films, Chris is currently shooting his directorial debut, a documentary about the controversial French delicacy foie gras.
Laura Lukitsch – Associate Producer
Laura is the director and producer of “Beard Club,” an hour-long documentary about the social politics of facial hair. She has also produced short films for the KQED series Spark. She is currently in pre-production on “Mind the Gap,” a documentary about sustainable urban transit.
Chris Metzler – Associate Producer
Chris is the co-director and co-producer of the John Waters’ narrated documentary “Plagues and Pleasures of the Salton Sea,” which premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival and later won both the HBO Producer’s Award and the Robert Altman Award, before debuting nationally on the Sundance Channel. He is now on the road with a new documentary, “Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone,” about the all-black punk band Fishbone.

Please check out their website sfroughcuts.com and this upcoming event.

SF Rough Cuts Call for Submissions

Rough Cuts is a series of documentary work-in-progress screenings in San Francisco. For each event, we screen one rough cut of a feature-length documentary and then moderate a conversation about the film. These post-screening discussions are designed to give the filmmaker a better, more objective sense of what is working and not working in the film, with particular attention paid to improving the film’s structure and clarity.

Rough Cuts is currently accepting submissions for our November 5 event. If you are editing a documentary that is over 40 minutes long and are seeking feedback, we encourage you to submit. Principal photography should be complete, and we encourage filmmakers to submit films that are in later stages of post-production (i.e. not first or second cuts).

To submit, please go to the Rough Cuts website.

Please note the following dates:
Wednesday, October 16: submissions due by 5 PM (not a postmark deadline).
Tuesday October 22: announcement of selected film
Tuesday November 5: Screening & discussion led by guest moderator